Arrest Khurshid and his wife, demands Kejriwal

After being detained by the Delhi Police at the makeshift jail at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Bawana, Arvind Kejriwal of India Against Corruption said they will not move out of the stadium till Union law minister Salman Khurshid tendered his resignation over corruption charges.

“We will remain in jail and will not come out,” said Kejriwal from inside the bus, in which the police had tried to ferry him and his supporters to the Bawana stadium.

“We detained them after they declared they would carry out an indefinite strike. Four companies and five-six buses had been deployed to handle the nearly 150 protesters,” a senior police officer said.

On Friday afternoon, Kejriwal along with hundred others had decided to march towards the PM residence. Khurshid and his wife are facing corruption allegation over alleged irregularities by an NGO run by him and his wife. The protesters also demanded that Khurshid and his wife Louise be arrested.

Louise is the project director of NGO Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust, against which Kejriwal and Rashtriya Vikalang Party (RVP) have levelled allegations of misappropriation of funds meant for the differently-abled.

Khurshid and his wife have denied the charges.

Kejriwal, his aides Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai and nearly a hundred volunteers, including some differently abled persons, were detained and sent to Bawana. An IAC release said the police manhandled women volunteers and beat up the activists of the RVP.

A senior police officer said the protesters were detained under Section 65 of the Delhi Police Act as they had not sought permission for their protest.

The police had offered to take three or four protesters to the PM residence.

The offer was rejected by the IAC. The detention happened around 3pm at the Janpath Road when the protesters tried to march towards the PM residence on Race Course Road.

“This is a fight to the finish. Let’s make this place another Tahrir Square,” Kejriwal said. The IAC said the protest had been organised by the RVP and they were mere ‘guests’. But later the IAC started sending text messages, asking people to join the protest.

Asked why disabled persons were roughed up, the police officer said the protesters were requested to peacefully leave the area but they began indulging in violence. So they had to be forcefully packed into buses and driven away.

Kejriwal also claimed he had sought time from the PMO, which refused him an appointment.

The bus which Kejriwal had boarded was stopped near Gol Dak Khana by his supporters. The police then took him to Bawana in a police van.